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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2010
Volume 9 Issue 314
Santa Monica Daily Press ST. MONICA THINKS TITLE SEE PAGE 3
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THE IF YOUR TRAIN FALLS OFF THE TRACKS ... ISSUE
SM resident group loses appeal of condominium development BY KEVIN HERRERA Editor in Chief
CITY HALL Residents who are attempting to stop a controversial condominium project from being built on Ocean Avenue, just steps from picturesque Palisades Park, were thwarted earlier this week when the City Council denied an appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision giving the Dallasbased developer permission to move forward. The council voted 6-0, with a visibly upset Kevin McKeown abstaining, to deny the appeal. The residents, many of them former tenants of the 47-unit apartment complex slated for demolition, claimed the condo’s Spanish Colonial revival design was out of character for the neighborhood, which is comprised of garden-style apartments. The residents also said the project has significant social and economic impacts because it would result in the loss of affordable rental units. Those rental units would be replaced by 15 luxury condos with a price tag estimated well over $1 million each. Five moderatelypriced condos will also be available for purchase, according to the developer, national real estate giant Trammell Crow. Representatives from Trammell Crow said the condo project would be less dense and of a lower scale than what is allowed under current zoning, includes more underground parking than what is required, includes affordable units, and would not create any significant impacts on the environment. The condo complex, which consists of three separate buildings surrounding a 5,000 square-foot central courtyard at the corner of Ocean Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard, will replace the former home of Santa Monica’s first female mayor, Clo SEE PROJECT PAGE 8
Kevin Herrera kevinh@smdp.com
TAKING A STAND FOR HIS STAND: Andy Waller, who has operated a shoe shine stand on the Third Street Promenade for the last decade, must pay several months in back rent to Santa Monica’s City Hall by next week or he's out of business.
Shoe shine guy might go bye-bye BY KEVIN HERRERA Editor in Chief
THIRD STREET PROMENADE He’s been a fixture here for more than a decade, but if Andy Waller doesn’t come up with $965 by Nov. 16, he and the shoe shine stand he operates will be gone, possibly for good. Waller, a colorful character who likes to spin yarns about his days working as an extra on movie and television shoots, owes Santa Monica’s City Hall several months in back rent and is not confident he will be able to make the deadline for payment. “I’m trying to go one more round,” Waller said Thursday as he stood by the stand located just north of Santa Monica Boulevard on the Third Street Promenade. “I’ve been here for almost 15 years and don’t want to let it go.” But the reality is shoe shines aren’t as
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popular as they used to be and with the struggling economy, sales have dropped considerably, Waller said. More of his customers are looking to get their sneakers cleaned than their dress shoes polished. Donna Rickman, a senior development analyst for City Hall who has been working with Waller, said he has been late paying his rent on several occasions over the last 10 years. City officials have been lenient, giving him extra time to settle his debts. “We have given him every opportunity to pay,” Rickman said. “We wanted to give him a chance to market himself and build a reputation so people would come by. It never seemed to manifest.” Waller, who learned how to shine shoes from “an old fellow” at 20th Century Fox, said he charges $7 per shoe shine and $5 for seniors. Waller’s rent is $107.68 a month. He said demand has been low because of the
Gary Limjap
economy but interest in the stand is still high. “People come by all the time, tourists taking pictures,” said Waller, who took over the operation from Ernie Whitehead, who in turn took over the stand in 1993 for Bob Jones, who shined shoes on the promenade for three decades. “It’s an attraction. It’s a beautiful stand.” City officials said if Waller fails to pay his back rent another operator could be brought in to run the stand, which is owned by City Hall and maintained by the Bayside District Corp., a public-private management company that oversees Downtown. There’s also talk of moving the stand from the promenade to a location closer to office buildings. Waller said it could be beneficial to move the stand closer to Santa Monica Place to draw more traffic. SEE SHINE PAGE 8
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